I have officially been dieting and exercising for 6 weeks now. The initial results are:I'm 17-18lb lighter, 2inches off my waist and I quit smoking (I did smoke liberally when I was in the city this past week). I feel great though. And I ran nearly 15 miles near the end of last week. I haven’t run that far since I was in high school, so that’s impressive for me, even if it was slow.
Now that kind of weight loss may seem really extreme (3lb/week) but honestly, it wasn’t that crazy and my diet has been pretty consistent. I am largely dependent on my family for food, and that is the kicker because no one here eats as much as an apple unless it’s covered in fat and sautéed in butter. Unless you count the caramel apples my Dad bought for Halloween, which I don’t. I make most of my own food and much of meals consist of:
1.Some veggie, usually corn, peas or beans or a small salad w/ a vinaigrette
2.Carbs, usually pasta in olive oil, brown rice or a baked potato
3.Meat, almost always grilled chicken breast but 1-2/wk I have steak, salmon or trout
Now that kind of weight loss may seem really extreme (3lb/week) but honestly, it wasn’t that crazy and my diet has been pretty consistent. I am largely dependent on my family for food, and that is the kicker because no one here eats as much as an apple unless it’s covered in fat and sautéed in butter. Unless you count the caramel apples my Dad bought for Halloween, which I don’t. I make most of my own food and much of meals consist of:
1.Some veggie, usually corn, peas or beans or a small salad w/ a vinaigrette
2.Carbs, usually pasta in olive oil, brown rice or a baked potato
3.Meat, almost always grilled chicken breast but 1-2/wk I have steak, salmon or trout
4.Drink NOTHING but water or diet soda. That means no milk, no juice and most sadly no beer.
A few times a week I’ll have a mini-Reeses’s peanut butter cup or half a Twix bar. A snack is usually a small bit of rice/pasta and 2 egg whites, tuna or a protein shake. Sounds bland, but it’s actually quite good. The diet part has been easier than I imagined. The running and weight lifting has been tough. I’ve regressed into such a pussy that I am weaker now than I was in 11th grade gym class. Ugh. Not good for a guy turning 30 this year.
To top it off I am sidelined with a right lateral knee injury which I suspect is illiotibial band syndrome. Basically this group of muscle and connective tissue on the outside part of the leg wasn’t warmed up or stretched right and it’s inflamed now, especially at the point of insertion on Gerdy’s tubercle at the top of my tibia. Sorry for the doctor talk, but all the training kinda hard wires a person. I don’t know when I can return to running, but I will undoubtedly lose progress. I’m on a steady diet of ice and piroxicam, with little relief unless my leg is totally numb.
On the positive, I do feel outstanding and I’m getting stronger every week. My clothes fit great too. I’m basically the same waist size I was in high school, and I know this because some of the clothes I wear are from high school (yet another indignity I must endure). It’s kinda sad when I have a bunch of shirts from “Structure” and I’m pretty sure that Structure closed all their stores some time around 2001. This is starting to get wordy and I bet most people aren’t too interested in the idiosyncrasies of my workout routine so I’ll stop now. But this moderate life change has made me reconsider a few things which I’ll touch on in a few days. Do you recognize the child actor from above? Ah, the classics.
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